The Jesus Tomb: Is It Fact or Fiction? Book Discredits Documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus

Link: PRWeb

A new book says The Lost Tomb of Jesus documentary was deceptive to its viewers and illusory to the scholars that worked on the production.

Fort Myers, FL (PRWEB) April 6, 2007 - New evidence surrounding The Lost Tomb of Jesus including personal interviews by leading scholars consulted in the film, suggest the 2,000 year old Jerusalem tomb is NOT the Jesus of Nazareth’s final resting place. In the new book, The Jesus Tomb: Is It Fact or Fiction? Scholars Chime In, Don Sausa reviews all of the claims, math, and the ‘evidence’ of The Lost Tomb of Jesus, to simply answer one question: Is it fact, or fiction?

The documentary that aired on March 4th, 2007 and the companion book, The Jesus Family Tomb, come from science fiction director James Cameron, controversial journalist Simcha Jacobovici, science fiction author Dr. Charles Pellegrino, and textual scholar Dr. James Tabor.

The book’s findings suggest that some plausible explanations were conveniently ignored in the documentary, such as the different types of family relationships Jesus and Mariamne [“Mary Magdalene” could have had. For instance, they could have been father and daughter, paternal cousins, half brother and sister, or grandparent and grandchild.

“Our review of the evidence, DNA findings, statistical analysis, and personal interviews of the experts used in the film clearly show that the claims are largely based on speculation and hype,” said Don Sausa.

For additional information on the news that is the subject of this release (or for a sample review copy), contact Don Ariel at support(at)thevisionpress.com or visit www.JesusTombReview.com. Book distribution date is April 16, 2007, ISBN 0978834690. Author is available for interviews.

About author:

Author and speaker, Don Sausa, is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, an organization that promotes biblical scholarship. He has studied biblical history for over 10 years, and is an ordained elder for the Fort Myers Ortiz Church.

One of Lost Tomb of Jesus' holes: The Tenth Ossuary

There's been a lot of media hype regarding The Lost Tomb of Jesus. Personally, I have reserved my comments and limited it to scholars, archaeologists, and forensic experts for now until my book is published. However, after seeing the debate on the Discovery Channel, I found out something disturbing, and I feel I must share this with my readers.

You see, Dr. James Tabor and Simcha Jacobovici assume that the tenth missing bone box in the Talpiot tomb is James, the brother of Jesus. From this, they can make huge statistical assumptions.

But here's the problem...
1. On June 18, 2003, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) in a unanimous decision the 15-member committee, condemned the 'James ossuary' as a modern forgery.
2. While #1 is a problem, this is even a greater problem. There is a picture of the James ossuary dated 1976. The Talpiot tomb, where they found 10 ossuaries, was opened in 1980.
3. In fact, Amos Kloner, one of the three original archaeologists that supervised the dig site, stated the tenth ossuary found in 1980 was blank, it had no inscription on it:

"Due to a lack of storage space, only nine of the 10 ossuaries found in the tomb in 1980 were held by the Israel Antiquities Authority after they were examined and documented, said Kloner. But the tenth one that was discarded did not have any inscription, he said."

OUCH! This is significantly damaging. Yet Dr. Tabor and Simcha Jacobovici claimed in the Discovery Channel debate that one of Israel's most experienced archaeologists, Dr. Kloner, must have missed the inscriptions because there were some dirt on it! Extremely unlikely -- that's the first thing they would check. Even if a remote chance of that were true, how can you explain the James ossuary photo made in 1976 when the Talpiot tomb was uncovered in 1980?

Why Dr. Tabor and Mr. Simcha Jacobovici do you continue to support that the James ossuary is legit? Please, for the sake of your reputation, do not continue to make it part of your hypothesis. Please remove this from your blog, which the world is now mocking you on:

3. One other new bit of data related to the Talpiot tomb are the patina tests carried out by Rosenfeld and others that indicate that the James ossuary, acquired by Oded Golan, and made public in 2002, came from this particular Talpiot tomb. This data is summarized in the Discovery documentary as well as the book, The Jesus Family by Jacobovici and Pellegrino. Originally in 1980 there were ten ossuaries recovered from this tomb but one went missing early on. If the James ossuary is this missing 10th from this tomb, and I do believe there is some good evidence to support that possibility, adding an ossuary inscribed names “James son of Joseph,” or “James son of Joseph brother of Jesus,” (if the full inscription is authentic as I believe it to be) to the cluster, the statistics change dramatically toward an identification of this tomb with Jesus of Nazareth.

I have sent this letter to Dr. Tabor and Simcha Jacobovici. I hope one of you respond.